Evan A. Nelson
Associate
Overview
Evan Nelson focuses his practice on property rights - from making sure landowners get just compensation when their property is condemned to representing trustees and beneficiaries in trust disputes. He also represents clients in commercial disputes and product liability defense litigation. Additionally, he maintains an active pro bono practice, with significant experience in environmental and administrative litigation.
Evan graduated first in his class from the University of North Dakota School of Law. During law school, he held many leadership roles, including a term on the Moot Court Board and two years as president of the Environmental Law Society. He was also judicial extern to the Honorable Kermit E. Bye of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Experience
- Represented owner of large, industrial parcel in appeal of municipal utility billing.
- Represented construction company in insurance coverage dispute regarding defective design and defective construction claims.
- Represented member-manager of limited liability company in litigation regarding company assets and dissolution.
- Represented homeowner in mediated dispute regarding undisclosed water damage and unpermitted improvements.
Pro Bono
- Pro Bono litigation regarding copper-sulfide mining project – Serve as lead to team of Maslon lawyers providing pro bono counsel to environmental organizations in several related and complex challenges to a copper-sulfide mine project proposed to be built within the Lake Superior watershed and in close proximity to the Boundary Waters. Representative case: Matter of NorthMet Project Permit to Mine Application Dated December 2017, A18-1952, __ N.W.2d __, 2020 WL 130728, at *1 (Minn. Ct. App. Jan. 13, 2020).
- ABA Pro Bono Death Penalty Representation: Ex parte Armstrong (Tex. Crim. App. 2017). Member of team of Maslon lawyers serving as pro bono counsel for Douglas Tyrone Armstrong, a Texas death row inmate convicted of capital murder in 2006. The team successfully secured the vacation of Armstrong's death sentence by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Honors
Light of Justice Award, Texas Defender Service, 2018
North Star Lawyer, Minnesota State Bar Association, 2017-2019 (North Star Lawyer is a designation that recognizes members who provide 50 hours or more of pro bono legal services in a calendar year.)